LIFTS are no longer big enough to cope with tubby Brits’ bulging waistlines, experts say.
Elevator capacity in the UK and Europe has not kept pace with our growing bellies and obesity levels.
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Lift weight limits have stayed the same since 2002, but bulging Brit waistlines have kept growing — meaning many lifts can now carry fewer people than they were designed for Credit: Getty
Since the mid-70s, the average British bloke has gone from 11st 6lb (75kg) to 13st 8lb (86kg), while women are up from 10st 3lb (65kg) to 11st 7lb (73kg) Credit: Getty
Lift weight limits increased in line with average body weight between 1972 and 2002 — but have stayed the same since.
Since the mid-70s, the average British bloke has gone from 11st 6lb (75kg) to 13st 8lb (86kg), while women are up from 10st 3lb (65kg) to 11st 7lb (73kg).
Since 1990, waists have grown from 34in to 37in.
It means lifts made for six or seven may now fit only two or three.
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Professor Nick Finer arrived at the findings by comparing 112 lift weight limits over time.
The expert, from the International Prader-Willi Syndrome Organisation, presented a study to the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul.
He said lift makers had “failed to recognise that if obesity is increasing then so is the amount of room you take up”.
One symptom of Prader-Willi Syndrome is insatiable hunger, and Prof Finer added: “If we don’t recognise growing trends in obesity and body size then we’re really making it hard for those people to function in our society.”
British Obesity Society president Jane DeVille-Almond said: “We need to accept society is unlikely to revert to sizes of 50 years ago, and start developing facilities for the 21st century.”
Three in 10 UK adults, about 16million people, are obese.
